September was filled with sun shiny days. I enjoyed a few hours painting at the edge of a field one day last week. Here is my 5” x 7”gouache painting along with a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson.
“To the attentive eye, each moment of the year has its own beauty, and in the same field, it beholds, every hour, a picture which was never seen before and which shall never be seen again.”
Autumn
As summer turns to fall I look forward to seeing a display of colorful leaves. Currently I am interested in the greenish - yellowish leaves of some bushes and am enjoying their playful designs. Here are three tiny, 4”X 4” gouache paintings.
To accompany these images I have chosen an excerpt from Elizabeth Jennings’s poem called, “Song at the Beginning of Autumn”:
“But every season is a kind
Of rich nostalgia. We give names —
Autumn and summer, winter, spring—
As though to unfasten from the mind
Our moods and give them outward forms.”
Summertime
Here are three tiny paintings, 4” x 4”, and three short quotes for summer.
All paintings were inspired by the flowers in our yard. All quotes are from Mary Oliver’s book called, New and Selected Poems Volume 2.
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| Morning Glory |
“Whatever it is I am saying, I always need a leaf or a flower, if not an entire field.”
From Mary Oliver’s poem called,
Of What Surrounds Me.
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| Daisy |
“Everyday I see or hear something that more or less kills me with delight…”
From Mary Oliver’s poem called, Mindful
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| Phlox |
“Every day I walk out into the world to be dazzled, then to be reflective.”
From Mary Oliver’s poem called, Long Afternoon at the Edge of Little Sister Pond.
Painting Pansies
Welcome Spring!
I came across an E.E. Cummings poem that captures the exuberance of Spring. The first line reads, “when faces called flowers float out of the ground “.
My current painting project started with a gift of yellow tulips from my husband. Pure painting pleasure. After the flowers faded I bought some red ones at the grocery store. They had tight buds. Then I brought home a pot full of purply- pink ones that loved sitting by the front window. I will plant these in the yard so next year they might “float out of the ground”.
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| Our pup enjoying the snow. |
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| Tenacious leaf |
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| Cone moved by wind. |
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| Hydrangea shadows |
Bark and Bases
Concluding my series of tree sketch posts, I focus on bark and bases. Here are six color sketches. Three done before snowfall and three after.
The following passage is an excerpt from Diana Beresford-Kroegers’s book,
To Speak for the Trees:
“In telling the story of my life and the leaves, roots, trunks, bark and stems that weave all through it, I hope to stir that memory. I want to remind you that the forest is far more than a source of timber. It is our collective medicine cabinet. It is our lungs. It is the regulatory system for our climate and our oceans. It is the mantle of our planet. It is the health and well-being of our children and grandchildren. It is our sacred home. It is our salvation.”
